No 'clash of civilizations' in Paris attacks

By David Wearing, Special to CNN

Updated 8:20 AM ET, Sat January 10, 2015

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Photos:Reactions to Paris terror attack

German President Joachim Gauck gives a speech in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate as political and religious leaders attend a Muslim rally to condemn the Paris terror attacks, promote tolerance and send a rebuke to a growing anti-Islamic movement on Tuesday, January 13.

The Empire State Building in New York is lit in the colors of the French flag on January 11, paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack.

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A man holds up a pen, signifying freedom of expression, during a gathering Friday, January 9, at JFK Plaza in Philadelphia.

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Lights on the Arc de Triomphe say "Paris est Charlie" (Paris is Charlie) on January 9.

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Journalists and other people in Hong Kong hold up pens and hold signs that say "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) during a vigil on January 9.

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Workers install a giant banner on the Cannes Festival Palace in Cannes, France, on January 9.

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People gather in front of the French Embassy in Mexico City on Thursday, January 8.

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A crowd gathers in Sydney on January 8 to show their support for Charlie Hebdo.

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In remembrance of the victims, the Eiffel Tower goes dark on January 8.

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A man holds a pencil in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral during a moment of silence January 8 in the French capital.

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Police observe a moment of silence January 8 in Rennes, France.

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People in Istanbul pay tribute to the victims of the attack on January 8.

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Journalists and supporters of press freedom hold placards saying "I am Charlie" outside the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong on January 8.

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Women hug each other during a solidarity rally outside the office of Charlie Hebdo on January 8.

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A Romanian military member walks past a condolence book outside the French Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, on January 8.

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People in Toulouse, France, observe a moment of silence in front of City Hall on January 8.

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French journalists and their families show solidarity with the Paris victims outside the French Embassy in New Delhi on January 8.

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Mourners hold signs depicting victims' eyes during a rally in New York on Wednesday, January 7.

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People hold candles during a gathering at Place de la Republique, a square in Paris, on January 7.

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People gather in Paris on January 7.

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Flowers are placed at a candlelight vigil near the French Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, on January 7.

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People in Rio de Janeiro hold a sign that reads "We're all Charlie" on January 7.

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Papers with "I am Charlie" written in various languages are left near candles at a vigil in front of the French Embassy in Berlin.

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Employees put up a sign as a woman prepares to place a bouquet of flowers at the front gate of the French Embassy in Washington on January 7.

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People in Brussels, Belgium, hold candles during a vigil on January 7.

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People gather near candles in Lyon, France, on January 7.

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People in Paris hold candles on January 7.

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A man holds a candle and a sticker that translates to "I am Charlie" during a vigil in Paris on January 7.

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People gather in London's Trafalgar Square on January 7.

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People gather in front of city hall in Rennes on January 7.

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A portrait of French cartoonist Georges Wolinski, another victim of the shooting, is seen in Marseille, France, on January 7.

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People hold up pens as a show of support in Rennes on January 7.

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People light candles during a vigil in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 7.

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Journalists with Agence France-Presse hold signs reading "I am Charlie" as they observe a minute of silence on January 7.

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A man in Paris raises a pen on January 7.

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People gather at the Place Royale in Nantes, France, on January 7.

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The French national flag flies at half-staff on the roof of the French Embassy in Berlin.

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People light candles at the Place de la Republique on January 7.

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People hold signs during a gathering in Paris on January 7.

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Story highlights

'Clash of civilizations' line wheeled out when Islamic extremists attack Western target is sweeping generalization, David Wearing says

These two-dimensional representations do nothing to help us make sense of what is actually going on, Wearing writes

What is needed is for Muslim and Western democrats to stand together against extremism and violence in all its forms, he says

David Wearing is a PhD candidate at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. His research focuses on Britain's relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN)Tensions are running high following the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday, and that is exactly how it should be. The correct, human response to an atrocity of this nature is revulsion and deep moral anger.

Far from precluding rational understanding, such anger should cause us to demand sensible, productive analysis and to brush aside comments from politicians or pundits that do not live up to the seriousness of the moment.

The "clash of civilizations" has become a popularized frame that is wheeled out whenever an attack by Islamic extremists is carried out against a Western target. It casts a democratic, liberal West as being locked in an epic struggle with a backward and violently intolerant Muslim world. According to this narrative, the West, which treasures freedom of speech, has this week come under attack from an Islamic culture that refuses to accept any instance of what it regards as blasphemy.

David Wearing

Voices from the left and right can be heard repeating the assumptions underlying these sweeping generalizations. Consider two examples from the United Kingdom this week. Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigrant party UKIP, opined that there are people living in Britain from other cultures who "hate us" and represent a "fifth column," thus implicating entire communities as enemies of the nation.

Separately, the liberal British journalist Jon Snow tweeted: "Paris: brutal clash of civilizations: Europe's belief in freedom of expression vs those for whom death is a weapon in defending their beliefs." Snow of course knows very well that a handful of armed men do not constitute a "civilization," just as he knows what the phrase he employed is universally understood to mean. With the far right on the march across Europe, and violent reprisals being carried out against blameless French Muslims, now is not the time for inflammatory or even careless language.

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Moreover, these two-dimensional representations do nothing to help us make sense of what is actually going on. Ascribing characteristics to entire "civilizations" as though they are uncomplicated and homogenous, containing no competing or contradictory forces, is to tell ourselves a fairy tale rather than to face the world as it really is.

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Take the idea that freedom of speech is a Western value. Clearly Europe and North America enjoy a high degree of freedom of expression. But the elected governments of many Western states also provide material support to some of the most repressive regimes in the world.

France too is a major weapons dealer in the region, supplying states such as the UAE and Qatar, the latter of which jailed the poet Mohammed al-Ajami for 15 years for "insulting the Emir" and calling for the overthrow of the government. The support given to these tyrannies by Washington, London and Paris is not an aberration, but a core component of long-established strategy. If democracy and freedom of speech are inherently and uncomplicatedly "Western values," how does one account for this?

Similarly, if democracy and freedom of speech are antithetical to the values of Arab or Muslim culture, then how to explain the thousands, even millions of people in the Middle East that have, especially since late 2010, fought and risked their lives for precisely these things, often against regimes backed by Western states? Are we to airbrush from the picture those participants in the Arab uprisings who are both Muslim and defenders of human rights, ignoring their bravery and their sacrifices?

Freedom has its champions and opponents in all parts of the world. The degree of freedom secured at any given moment merely reflects how the struggle between the two sides has played out so far, rather than some innate cultural attributes. The social systems of the West were not born democratic, but became that way through often painful periods of internal conflict, France being the classic example.

Likewise, the extreme puritanism of ISIS and al Qaeda has not emanated smoothly and naturally from the cultures and religious practices of the Middle East (where it continues to be overwhelmingly rejected). In the modern era, it was originally imposed by force in the Arabian Peninsula when the House of Saud conquered the area in the early twentieth century. The Saudis have since promoted fundamentalism, often as a way of suppressing more secular forms of opposition, and have lost control of the results with disastrous consequences.

The roots of Islamic extremism are complex. Western state support for regimes like Saudi Arabia, and pursuit of disastrous wars, not least in Iraq, may not be the decisive causal factors. But they are part of the mix, and profoundly unhelpful. What we need now is not false division between "East" and "West", but for democrats on both sides to stand together against extremism and violence in all its forms.